cultivate(MD)

What cultivate(MD) does

cultivate(MD) is a privately held, Grand Rapids, Michigan-based venture capital fund that invests exclusively in early-stage medical device companies, typically engaging at pre-Series A, pre-FDA filing, or pre-revenue stages. Founded in 2014, the firm has built a 15+ company portfolio spanning shoulder arthroplasty (Shoulder Innovations), regenerative medicine (Nanochon), spine (HAPPE Spine), miniaturized robotic-assisted surgery (Virtual Incision), quantitative neuroimaging software (SpinTech MRI), augmented-reality cardiac visualization (SentiAR), thoracic electrosurgery (Prana Surgical), and respiratory biosensing (Strados Labs), among others.

The firm operates five fund vehicles—Seed Fund I, Seed Fund II, Accelerator Fund, Opportunity Fund, and the Focus Fund launched in February 2026 with a 2031 horizon—and deploys capital through direct equity investments, often leading or co-leading rounds. cultivate(MD) differentiates itself through hands-on operational engagement and a 22-person team weighted toward technical engineers and scientists, including the inventor of the first FDA-approved stemless shoulder replacement and senior operators with backgrounds at DePuy, Tornier, Zimmer, Intuitive Surgical, and Inari Medical. Revenue is generated through a combination of fund management fees and realized returns from portfolio exits, including four disclosed exits: Imascap (acquired by Wright Medical for $88.8M in 2017), Embody (acquired by ZimmerBiomet for $155M in 2023), SPDx (acquired by Instrumentum in 2025), and Shoulder Innovations (NYSE IPO on July 31, 2025 under ticker 'SI').

Name

cultivate(MD)

Legal name

cultivate(MD)

Website

https://cultivate-md.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

cultivate(MD) is a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based venture capital fund investing in early-stage medical device companies across five fund vehicles, with a 22-person technical team and four realized exits including a 2025 NYSE IPO.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medical Device Venture Capital

NAICS

Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investors, Nec (6799)

akta.pro primary industry

SDG / Thematic Sustainable Investment Funds (FSANAJAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Emerging Manager / Seeding Platforms (Multi-Manager) (FSANAGAF)

Keywords

• Medical device venture capital
• Early-stage medical devices
• Venture capital funding
• Healthcare startup investment
• Medical device innovation

Headquarters

HQ city

Grand Rapids

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns and Management Fees: cultivate(MD) generates returns through successful exits of portfolio companies, including acquisitions and IPOs, as well as management fees from its fund vehicles (Seed Fund I, Seed Fund II, Accelerator Fund, Opportunity Fund, and Focus Fund).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

cultivate(MD) is a private medical device venture capital fund that identifies, evaluates, and invests in early-stage medical device companies, often at pre-Series A, pre-FDA clearance, or pre-revenue stages. The firm manages multiple fund vehicles (Seed Fund I, Seed Fund II, Accelerator Fund, Opportunity Fund, and Focus Fund), deploys capital into portfolio companies, and engages directly in company operations to reduce investment risk and drive portfolio company performance toward exits such as acquisitions and IPOs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Seed Fund I

Quantifiable outcome

• Imascap acquired by Wright Medical for $88.8 million in December 2017
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NuvoAir Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 March 2026Strados Labs, a cultivate(MD) portfolio company, acquired NuvoAir Clinical Trials from NuvoAir Inc. The transaction expands Strados' suite of solutions to include remote and in-clinic spirometry, FeNO measurement, and electronic clinical outcome assessment (eCOA).
• Interventional Systems (INS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 December 2025Shoulder Innovations announced strategic partnership with INS to introduce a robotic platform for shoulder arthroplasty, expanding the company's ecosystem with advanced enabling technology.
• NASAminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 March 2025Virtual Incision collaborates with NASA and University of Nebraska-Lincoln to explore telesurgery in remote locations, made possible by the miniaturization of robotic-assisted surgery capabilities.
• Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 20 February 2025Strados Labs collaborating with BIDMC on pilot study evaluating RESP Biosensor for early detection of pulmonary edema in critically ill patients on mechanical ventilation.
• Canon Medical Systems USAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 January 2024SpinTech MRI and Canon Medical Systems USA developed a fully quantitative fast MRI solution combining STAGE quantitative output with Canon AiCE deep learning reconstruction for clinical neuroimaging applications.
• Yale New Haven HospitalcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 November 2023SpinTech MRI and Yale New Haven Hospital conducting analysis of operational and clinical impacts of using STAGE for routine neuroimaging exams, examining efficiency, exam duration, image quality, and clinical outcomes.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• OrbiMed: One of the largest healthcare-focused investment firms globally, spanning medtech, biotech, and healthcare services across multiple fund vintages. Comparable as a multi-fund, sector-pure investor in medical devices with strong operating bench and global reach.
• Versant Ventures: Healthcare-focused VC with both biotech and medtech franchises, structured across multiple fund vehicles. Comparable to cultivate(MD) as a sector-pure investor deploying dedicated medtech capital into early-stage device companies.
• SV Health Investors: Healthcare-dedicated VC firm with deep medical device franchise and multiple disease-area funds. Highly comparable given its sector specialization, multi-fund structure, and pattern of backing medtech companies from early stage through exit.
• Vivo Capital: Healthcare-focused investment firm with dedicated medtech and biopharma funds. Comparable as a sector-specialist with a multi-fund structure investing across stages in medical devices.
• Bain Capital Life Sciences: Healthcare-dedicated platform of Bain Capital with active medtech franchise alongside biotech. Comparable as a multi-fund, sector-focused investor with operating expertise and global strategic relationships.
• Longitude Capital: Healthcare-dedicated growth and venture firm investing across medical devices, biopharma, and healthcare services. Comparable as a sector-focused multi-stage healthcare investor with overlapping medtech portfolio.
• Aperture Venture Partners: Early-stage, medical-device-focused VC firm with a thesis of investing ahead of strategic acquirers. Closely comparable to cultivate(MD) on sector focus, stage (pre-FDA / pre-revenue), and engagement model with portfolio companies.
• HealthQuest Capital: Healthcare- and medical-device-focused venture and growth capital firm. Directly comparable as a sector-specialist investor backing commercial-stage and earlier medtech companies with operating support, overlapping heavily with cultivate(MD)'s thesis and stage focus.

Broad incumbents

• New Enterprise Associates (NEA): One of the world's largest VC firms with a longstanding healthcare and medical device practice. Comparable in deploying venture capital into medtech, but operates as a generalist mega-fund rather than a sector-pure specialist.
• Deerfield Management: Large healthcare-dedicated investment firm spanning public and private strategies. Comparable as a major healthcare capital allocator with medtech exposure, though broader and larger than cultivate(MD) across the healthcare continuum.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cultivate-md

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments17 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about cultivate(MD)